James Salter. 
 
Random House: 1975. First edition. Hardcover in a jacket. Octavo. Soiling on the back panel of the jacket. Fading on the top and bottom of the boards. Some foxing on the fore and top edges of the text block. Water damage on the pages has wrinkled the leaves. 308 pages. Very good. Includes a handwritten letter in black ink from Salter to bookshop owner Karl Kilian as well as the envelope Salter sent it in. Book is signed. 
 
The first edition of our pick for the underrated American novel, and the accompanying letter is the only personal letter of Salter's that money can buy. In it Salter waxes about Houston, time lost in 1992 while he was trying to finish a novel, and other daily details in the life of a great writer. 
 
“Life is weather. Life is meals.”